On the beaches it has been difficult to fish the open stretches for some time, apart from the very occasional lull between the swells. Access has been limited to the more protected corners, with salmon proving the dominant species along with a few bream and the very occasional school mulloway. When access to the main beaches has been reasonable there have been some terrific tailor about, with North Beach yielding thumper greenbacks early in the week. Red weed remains a problem with the brief but strong easterly changes blowing it right back in, Lighthouse and North Beach faring worst. Beaches to the south are weed free but the further south you go, the thicker the salmon are.
In the estuary, blackfish are again on the chew with the breakwalls firing and areas further upstream producing consistently. Flathead numbers remain excellent with Blackmans Point and the flats around Pelican Island well worth a go. The lower estuaries after dark have been excellent for bream over a kilo on mullet gut or blackfish gut. There have also been plenty of mulloway around the breakwalls with live mullet, blackfish heads, tailor and lures all proving successful.
Off the rocks, a few consistent reports of drummer with Point Perpendicular giving up some nice bags over the past week. Rockys, Shelley, Nobbys and Lighthouse have all produced fish. Excellent tailor reports continue to filter in from Point Plomer and further north. This year has the best run of quality fish for quite some time. Plomer and Hat Head have been giving up plenty of school jew with whole squid or tailor achieving results. Plenty of blackfish around for those keen to toss a bit of cabbage, with Miners and Nobbys giving up some top bronzies early in the week.
Offshore results have been basically the same as the last few weeks. Poor sea conditions on most days, reasonable snapper in close, good flatties around the 50m mark and stacks of jackets just wider. For those with boats capable of fishing the shelf and beyond, good numbers of yellowfin tuna have been reported with plenty of 30-40kg fish.
Jason and Virginia Isaac, Ned Kelly’s Bait and Tackle 6583 8318 jasned@ozemail.com.au